This is my Build up of the Bandai 1/72 Perfect Grade Millennium Falcon Model Kit. This is an Ep 4.5 version. Some upgrades for lighting the outside of the hull transitioning from Episode 4 to Episode 5.
Incredible work! The little details that you put into it just make it a cut above. That light in the rear left that is flickering like it's burning out is brilliant.
I am a manager at my job and regularly put it 50 - 60 hours. So most of my work comes on a day off, and I spend a lot of time just enjoying a drink and staring at my models, deciding what I want to do next. My favorite part of building is being able to just relaxe and only work on something I want to work on.
Incredible job! I like your encouragement to "have a go" at LED wiring...something I would like to do with an imminent purchase if this Falcon kit. Your description of painting techniques showcasing battle damage & weathering was really helpful. Really great, great job🙏🏻👌🏻
Have you started working on your Falcon kit yet? 5 bucks says yours will probably be better then mine, all the resources are out there to accomplish anything you want.
Wow just amazing I can barely finish a ww2 tank model seeing all those sheets laid out of all the parts I can’t imagine how much time and effort this took
Was worth it! Looks great upstairs in my media room. (Which seems to be turning into a model showroom.....) The first model I ever built was when I was sick as a kid and my dad got me a tank. Don't remember which one it was (30 years ago). But I enjoyed it, I might get into another one if I can find the right inspiration. I follow Laser Creation World, and he makes me a bit jealous with all of his extra tools. ru-vid.com/show-UC8PPpb-2kFmb5zgqL7EmAmw, should check his work out!
Thanks! If you get onto shapeways, the author of those parts was 308bits. He has a lot of great stuff. It is pricey though, so I invested into 3d printing so I can save money in the long run by printing my own.
so far you're the best build i've seen. your version is better than the one's iv'e seen with thousand of subs in there channel. i like yours coz you did some lightings which come up really well.
Excellent work. One of the best I’ve seen all around and probably the first with the 308 parts. I’m working on my PG Falcon (first model ever!) and having a blast and learning a lot (I have some videos posted from a total noob). It’s being setup as ANH but this gives me ideas for an ESB version.
Thanks! I really enjoyed it, and as a first model ever, I hope you do too! This is a tough one as a first model, but only because of the size and amount of parts. Don't be afraid to mess up, just enjoy it, and if you have to fix something, that is a new thing to learn. When you get done, send me a pic I would love to see it!
NICELY DONE. i had this model kit of the Falcon when it first came out in the 70s. which is very much now gone it also had a lot of parts as well. When I made It was my pride and joy and wouldnt let anyone near or touch it we also added small lightbulbs and weathering to it which did make it look more authentic but there is one part (or two if you will) that is NOT included in this mode kit and thats is under panels that was attached to the underneath in the TESB studio prop. Look at large studio prop in the Rebel Ice base scene on Hoth and in the asteroid Falcon chase with the Tie Fighters sequences in the film you'll see them you might want to make and them if you want to. I made some and added them myself which made the model of the Falcon which gave it an even more extra authentic quality to the model. P.S. we hated the one of the newer movie models with the rectangular antenna That one stunk. but we know it was there is because Lando broke it off in ROTJ in the Death Star interior scene being chased by Tie Fighters. The only one the Falcon should have is the circular one. Well have fun with you version.
Yeah, none of my models are 100%...or even close to it. I recently finished a studio scale y-wing I might make a video on, but it was based off of a y-wing in a book. I like taking a bit of my own license, some of it is wrong memories from when I was a kid watching the movies, or things I just felt right for the scale or 'look' I was going for to display the model. One of the problems with building any model, is you either have to be very specific which one it is, ie: 5 foot tesb, 3 foot tesb/anh, star trek pilot 1, star trek pilot 2, etc. When I was a kid, I didn't care about the differences so much as the feel. I don't make the models for shows or to sell or anything, I make them for me, and they sit around my house, and that is what I enjoy. I have invested in a lot of star wars reference books, so maybe I will try a very accurate one at some point. But for me, when something goes from fun to tedious I tend to lose interest.
Going to start my own build soon. Was wondering how I was going to do the lighting as the stock LEDa look pretty lackluster. This is really motivating me to really do it right! Awesome build!!!
That was only the 12th model I have built. So you can do it, all you have to do is try. There are a lot of great people out there with tutorials and vids and willing to answer questions. Thanks!
I've seen more accurate builds and larger builds, but I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful or detailed build. Astounding is the best word I can think of. I mean, if you could pick any build to put on your shelf to display, this would have to be it, right?
I love the detail but the lighting just makes it pop. I really like the undercarriage lighting and that blueish-white on strobe on the engines. Let’s take her for a spin, you fly it and me and Chewy will take care of the guns😜👍😎
Wow! The creativity you added is stellar. I am doing my motherboard programming tutorials now & prepping to build some other spacecraft with lights and motors - this kit is the goal, for my adult son who is a huge fan. To get him drooling, I forwarded your build video!! Initially I was thinking of just the basics with lights, now I’m enamored with the features you have added. I hope to pull on you for sources, troubleshooting & maybe even “if I were to build it again I would do this different.” I’m also thinking of investing in 3D printing as well - seems prudent. I saw Elegoo’s Saturn printer pitch today. Thoughts? Again great job.
Thanks! There are a few things I would do differently now...but I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I think it is a great kit, and honestly, the extra money I put into the 3d parts was a lot...plan on easily doubling the cost of this kit unless you print yourself. And also the motors I would not add back in...or..I would spend a lot more money for quieter motors. Also, I would need to find a better way to balance them. I did a rubber seat for each motor all the way around. To dampen the sound. But they can become unbalanced and hit the inside of the grates. Either way, between the sound and the balance issues I would need a better solution. I just leave them off now...and it was a lot fo work and expense. Even on, they are hard to see, really wasn't worth it.
I tried to add the right amounts of yellowing and rustiness. There is a lot of variation between the different studio props, but I just tried to age it up in all the crevices.
Yeah I almost got the deagostini kit instead, but for me it came down to, was I after just size, or was I after something I could do more my own thing with? I have seen a ton of great deagostini builds, and they have a lot of options, but I felt the bandai kit was more my style.
Hi Rob. I’ve been using your video in building my MF and have also gone down the 308 bits route. I’ve a question on how you light-blocked the main back wall. As there’s no door did you make a light box behind that piece or was there another way you achieved it? Fantastic build and a beautiful paint job. Looking forward to your blockade runner.
Amazing build. What i noticed about your build is the the lights are about the right brightness for the scale. The cockpit especially feels so balanced.
Thanks, Fiber optics are great for giving a natural variance in brightness, and an arduino board will let you control LED brightness, you can get about any effect you want.
What an incredible job! Getting goosebumps looking into the cockpit and through to the corridor. About to start my own PG build and debating how far to go with the 3D printed upgrades. Can I ask - how did you light it up - are they individual FO strands through each hole in the back wall and console?
Thanks! Yeah, the parts for the cockpit I got from 308 Bits on Shapeways. They are pricey, but the are also amazingly well done. The holes are actually built into the 3d print, so no drilling. And yes, each one is a fiber strand. I did make one larger hole in the ceiling so I could mount a light above to further illuminate the cockpit. I also just masked off the bars of light on the sides so a few SMD's on the inside of the wall would glow through. Same for the little map on the back wall, and then I used a part of the decal from the kit to cover it to give the right effect.
epic modelling skillS Rob!. Do you have any detailed pics of the fiber and Led work behind the cockpit lighting you are willing to share?, thanks in advance.
I did actually, but I stuffed a lot of electronics in there. I am teaching myself how to do this stuff as I go, and I ended up making 4 circuit boards on the inside. One was arduino, then 3 additional power boards, red lights and motors take a lot more juice then the arduino had available so I had to use gates and make my own power boards. I am sure there is an easier way, but I am schooling myself off of how to vids and trial and error, so there wasn't a lot of room left on the interior. At least not without cutting out even more of the interior then I already had. But trust me, I looked a lot at some of the mods for the deagostini falcon and thought hard about it. Maybe on the next one I build. Right now I am building a 48"? blockade runner. So I am learning to minimize electronics.
That is AMAZING! How much would you charge to build me one of these? Your skills are far far beyond anything I could do by miles. Hell, I couldn’t dream of doing the wiring and all you did, no to mention even the painting detail. You have done an amazing job!
Dunno, I can say I spent probably close to 1.5k on everything. Without my time. But seriously, everything I did I learned on the fly, so I am sure you could do it too. I spent twice as much on 3d printed parts and photo etch then I did on the kit. Now I have my own 3d resin printers, so I look forward to saving some money with my future projects.
Amazing job! I have the same exact kit that I also want to light up with an addressable rgb led strip. I've been toying around with my uno R3 but can't get it to light up with the effect your engine has (which looks awesome btw). Any chance you can share your code?
I dont have the code anymore (It was on an old laptop then I have since upgraded.) I am not sure I can pull it off of the board now...something I will have to look into. But as a starting point, I downloaded the tutorials from arduino and just basically rewrote one that I liked to fit my purpose. the light colors were easy to readdress, the timing of the pulsing is what took the longest, but it wasn't hard. Find a pattern you like, then just play with the timing lines. I bet you will probably find an effect you like even better.
Yeah, and with the Bandai kit, you can pick out a ton of them without a problem. Sometimes it was literally LOL funny when I found something I wasn't expecting.
Hi guy as we said before "nicely done" but I have finally bought myself the 1:58 scale Millennium Falcon MPC ertl model kit and want to light it like it was on the Cloud City Tell could you tell me how to do that and how many lights I need for it?
Thats a complicated question. I would start with looking up some reference shots/stills from the movie, and counting out the lights and positions, I am sure there are schematics of it as well. Then it is just a matter of drilling holes for light to mount and setting up power/control for the lights. I know that sounds over simplified, but that is the basic gist. There are a lot of good tutorials on how to use LED lights on youtube, and if that is all the lighting you want to do, you can even make the lights run in a closed circuit without a controller. Just a battery. I am sure you can accomplish this with just a little how to on LED lighting videos.
It is very good awesome I wish I would’ve picked this model up when it first came out because now everybody is overcharging for it the model itself should not cost over $300 but people seem to want almost 500 for it now if not more but you did an amazing paint job but what I don’t understand is there a close-up images of the top and lower guns I don’t understand why he didn’t paint them to be more movie accurate along with a few other things amount of work you put into it so that extra mile Look at the movie pictures and do it right not that it’s a big deal your model is 98% awesome
Thanks! I will take 98% lol. I purposely didn't rewatch the movies or look at reference shots for this build. I wanted to build my favorite ship straight from how I remembered it from when I was a kid. So that is what I did. I am sure there are a lot more inaccuracies, but I am ok with those, when I look at the finished kit, it reminds me of the ship I love.
I bought this model after creating a 1/6 scale model of a scene from the Mandalorian and I thought this could be next build. I ended up building the 1/144 scale Falcon and the 1/72 scale X-wing. Having watched your and a few other builders with their PG Falcons, I am hesitant to use the original cockpit that comes with the kit and use a third party pieces instead. I found 308 Bits and the stuff looks great. Can you go into more detail about how you did the electronics and lighting?
Sure, although I am not sure exactly which parts you are curious about. For the cockpit: I used one 1/8 led white, with fiber optics .025 for control panels up front, and the painted transparent colors on some of them. (I almost never use colored leds/micro smds) I mounted the light on the bottom of the cockpit. For the side walls, I filled in the holes after painting with fiber optics .025, and ran those to the back wall, I made plate to cover the inside of the back wall and mounted 10 micro smds there to fill ing the back wall and the fibers. Then to the inside of the hull I mounted about 3 micro smds on each side where the bars of light are. One again, painting the switches with different transparents. A few of the fiber strands throughout I ran to a couple of smds and light blocked them and set them on different circuits. Then the same for the hallway, mounted smds behind the wall where the greenish lights are about head level, and then some on the inside of the hull under where the floor grates are. same thing for the gunwells, except I had to drill the holes. lights for the headlamps on the front of the mandibles, and then worklights between the mandibles on the main hull. And then strip lighting for the engines. And then the landing lights. And then the red warning lights. And the landing gear lights. So I ended up with a separate circuit for: 1: Landing gear 2: Engines 3: Headlights 4: Landing lights 5: Landing lights (Yes twice, one was for a flickering one at the back to make it look like it was going to fail.) 6: Cockpit 7: Cockpit (Flashing) 8: Cockpit (Different rate of flashing) 9: Gunwells (A few strands of leds tied to the cockpit flashers) 10: Warning lights 11: exhaust fans Everything on a different circuit and then I used an arduino uno and programed all of my different circuits. I tied a couple circuits together, to turn on and off (All the cockpit and gun wells are tied to one on/off. Both landing lights are tied to one on/off) I had to run a secondary set of boards for power and use transistors as gates for power. I made one power board for the cockpit, one for the engines, and one for the red warning lights. and one board for the engine fans. (They take a lot of juice). Everything else runs off of the power from the uno board. This was my first time doing any of this, at this level, but I found lots of tutorials on line and was able to figure it out. probably spent about 100 bucks plus on parts, but I have enough parts now to make 20 models with lighting like this if I want. Much cheaper to do it yourself, and you can get the exact look you want. Let me know if I can be of any help! Good luck, make sure you let us know when you are done!
@@bryanbbarnes Just searched in google for what I was looking for...I didn't bookmark them. And the tutorials are saved on a different computer. But dronebotworkshop.com/transistors-mosfets/ that one looks close to what I did for the transistors, and the one for the engines is actually a tutorial on the arduino website for fire effect with strip lighting. I just slowed it way down and played with the colors and flicker setting for the engine effect. (Plus using the physical effect from some plastic cartridges that hold drill bits). But I basically just googled everything. and then played around until I got the effect I wanted. Arduino is a lot of fun, and you will come across lots of ideas as you learn as well. If you really want the cheat, let me know, and I will give you the code I use and specifics on lights etc, that I used. But that would just be a copy of what I did. I am sure with a little work you could do better then I did.
@@robbuildsstuff.9332 If you could give me the codes it would be a great place to start and I could go from there and play with the settings. If you find your tutorials on the other computer please post. Who did you buy all your electronics from? online? what kind of motors did you use for the fans?
Sure, besides what came with the kit, I also purchased the GreenStrawberry photoetch. I almost always use their photoetch, I find the quality of the product very nice. And if you can't find what you need at a local shop, their international shipping is fast and it won't break the bank.
@@DavidMiller-tl5gn Cant really say, I have quite a bit of para grafix photo etch that I havent used yet for 350 TOS and refit enterprises. When I get around to building those I will have a better opinion. I found the Greenstrawberry stuff when I built my first model, the bandai atat. And I have just always used them since. Another adventure to learn something. I havent been doing this that long. this falcon was only like my 11th model. So I have lots to learn, and to play with.
@@robbuildsstuff.9332 I have Para waiting in my shopping kart on eBay but didn't fire on it. I am thinking of order from GreenStrawberry. Most likely will. Great work on the falcon by the way. If you have the chance, pickup the Star Wars Blue Print book. Original blue prints from 1 - 6. Very good book and helpful on some referencing.
Lol...suck up a lot of juice and even with my extra power boards they dim the lights on the kit. At least they are silent. I don't turn them on...it was a complete waste of time for the kit, but a great learning experience and now I have the knowledge and tools if I ever need to use that stuff for anything else.
You would be paying AT LEAST $1600 mass-market, painted up replica prop and it likely wouldn't be better than this. It takes time but if you know what you're doing or pre-plan you'll save a lot of money doing things yourself! There's satisfaction in building things with your own hands you don't get by buying them pre-made. There's frustration, too, and a lot of money spent in getting appropriate but the good news is those tools can be reused for many projects so they're an investment for the future, too.
Cause I haven't ever seen it done, and I like to try new things. I am glad I did it for the knowledge and experience I gained, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone else. But now I have done it and learned. Besides, part of the enjoyment and fun for this stuff is learning and experimenting. Extra knowledge doesn't hurt. And I am the only one who has to look at it everyday. and you don't know they ave motors if I don't turn 'em on. lol
